Energy-efficient technologies support women’s economic empowerment

Date: Thursday, July 11, 2019

Taking urgent measures against climate change to mitigate its impact, while increasing universal access to reliable, renewable and modern energy sources, are objectives incorporated into the globally recognized Sustainable Development Goals, and UN Women is contributing towards their achievement.

Within the framework of UN Women’s project “A Joint Action for Women’s Economic Empowerment in Georgia” (JAWE), which is implemented with the support of the Norwegian Government, the Georgian Farmers’ Association and Energy Efficiency Centre Georgia held a training on energy efficiency for 15 women entrepreneurs engaged in agriculture and agritourism.

The training was focused on enhancing knowledge on energy efficiency and discussed practical issues such as energy-efficient buildings, thermal insulation construction materials, and renewable energy systems and technologies in Georgia.

The participants also became familiar with success cases of using energy-efficient technologies. Training participant Keti Tomeishvili, who runs a greenhouse farm in Vani, remarked: “Energy-efficient technologies and renewable energy sources offer a completely new perspective for entrepreneurs. I found out many things at the training, and most importantly, I learned about the renewable energy sources that are available locally. I have already planned to use them to make my greenhouse farm more efficient and to do less harm to the environment.”

Energy efficiency plays a crucial role in the daily activities of people. Finding renewable energy sources is critical, especially when it can impact a business. This is the role that Natia Ninikelashvili, a project manager at the Georgian Farmers’ Association, underlined about the training: “Female entrepreneurs had the opportunity to learn more about the technical skills required to find renewable energy resources, and to get familiar with the theoretical and practical details about using the various types of energy-efficient sources around us. We are planning to have several meetings like this during the year.”

Providing more information and awareness-raising to female entrepreneurs about climate change and energy efficiency represents a precondition of women’s economic empowerment and sustainable economic development. Within the framework of the JAWE project, UN Women plans to continue working in the future with the purpose of mitigating the consequences of climate change and improving energy efficiency.